M8 Harley Davidson Accessory Power Outlet
Mike RoenHarley Davidson is keeping up with the changing times as well as the most current technology. Mike demonstrates for us on this M8 Softail where to find the Harley Davidson accessory power outlet.
Harley’s change over to a CAN BUS electrical system has changed the way we are able to, or rather not able to, access a 12 volt source or ground wires in order to add accessories. Gone are the days of simply tapping into a wiring harness at any accessible point. The CAN BUS system is very sensitive. If it detects a higher voltage draw within the system, various errors will occur. Now you need to find the Harley Davidson accessory power outlet.
You can, however, access the data link plug as an accessory power source. Most aftermarket accessories for M8 models will now be offered with a data link plug. If you are interested in an accessory and it is not sold with a data link plug, you should reconsider the purchase. Harley has also added a hard-wired battery tender plug onto all M8 models. It is now more difficult to access the M8 Softail battery. Having this battery charging plug is a must. Now, you should only need to access the battery at a major service or when it is being replaced.
Last but not least, all models are now built with a Harley Davidson accessory power outlet or USB plug-in port. By now, a majority of Twin Cam owners have had to wire a USB power source to their bikes in order to keep their phones charged, for GPS, for music, etc. This can be a bit of a nuisance. Usually having to run wires from the battery compartment, up to the handlebars or over to a saddlebag or tank bag.
With a factory USB plug already wired and mounted on the motorcycle, a rider only needs to be concerned with a single charging cord.
Hey, welcome back to Fix My Hog. I'm Mike Roen. In this video we're going to kind of cover some of the nice accessories on the Milwaukee-Eight Softail. Now, with this new model they kind of added a couple of really nice features, and we're going to just go over that. We'll just start with, it's kind of a big problem, when they went to the CAN Bus style, wire harness power system.
It wasn't like the old school days where people would just get in and start popping scotch locks in anywhere looking for power. This wiring harness, the electrical components all really sensitive to that. So you're saying, well, how do I get switch power? Because I want to put some accessories on my motorcycle. What the some aftermarket companies and Harley are offering is a little pigtail that plugs into your power point here.
And really this does a couple of things, you know, we use this data link here, Harley uses it for their digital tech. This is where they plug in to the motorcycle and see what's going on. Whether they're reading trouble codes or remapping the ECU. We use it for dyno tuning, you know, that's where we go to plug into the data link. Now, what you can do is if you want to put in, some type of accessory, whether it's a heated seat or handlebar grips or whatever, they make a pigtail, plugs into it it's got a little thing coming off it and that's where you can get your switch power.
It's a pretty important deal, so check into that before you start poking around with your test light and saying, ooh I got switch power. That can come back to bite you, and it's usually not at a very good time, so. Take a look at your owner's manual, if you have the service manual, do a little research. That's a great little option. So we'll just kind of put that back here.
And the other nice thing about the new M-8 is they actually have hard wired in for your battery tender because that way, you know, this battery on this motorcycle is buried. It's not that easy to get to, you know, if you take it in and out a couple of times, yeah it gets to be all right, but it ain't like the old school days where the battery was right there and you could just see it and go hook your battery tender to it, you know, or your heated, whatever. So that's a really nice option, you know, check that out. And one other thing that's, you know with the way the world's goin' people can't leave their house without their cell phone or their tunes or whatever, you know, I get it. It's a nice little handy deal.
But, see if you look right here, if you're looking at your owner's manual or the service manual they've got a nice little USB plugin. So, basically you're just taking your your phone plug in or your USB and with the motorcycle off. Now, this bike, doesn't have an ignition switch. It's just got the fob and your emergency shutoff switch. So basically you're only going to have power to it when the motorcycle's running.
So now we have, we're charging our phone, we can listen to music, we can get a little handlebar bag or one up on the thing, or you put it in your tank bag or whatever, you know. Obviously on a Softail, you're kind of limited where you're going to be able to stash it but you've got a long enough cord to get it back in your jacket, so. It's kind of nice to have the power, you know what I mean? If you're in the middle of nowhere, you're in Wyoming you want to have a little access to this, so. The other thing, now, if you've got a street glide ultra classic road glide, whatever they've got a little data link in the on the batwing fairing like in a street glide, you pop it open, there's your data link or your USB power point.
Plug it in. If you've got an ignition switch, you flip it all the way over to accessory and you're hanging out with your buddies, you're charging your phone, you're playing your music, whatever. So that's pretty handy. Motorcycle doesn't have to be running. You switch it off, you lose all your power, because you don't want to drain your battery down, wake up get out of your tent then find out you can't start your motorcycle.
So, it's just a really nice feature they've kind of put in these motorcycles, so. Time marches on, technology marches on, people gotta have this stuff, so. Check your owner's manual out, and as usual wrench safe.
My ‘21 FXLRS does not have the grey accessory port. It’s my understanding that Harley removed that feature on the ‘21 and newer softails. I bought an accessory thinking it would connect to that plug and found Harley has removed it now. Couldn’t find out anything from my local dealer. They are apparently oblivious to the motorcycles they sell??? Anyway, I don’t know if Harley has just changed it or it’s gone for good? I had to wire my accessory straight to the battery.
Hi Folks, you forgot: If you turn on the parking lights (Left hand controls, the Speedo Info Cycle button) by holding the button LHCM circle icon, you have also the USB port powered while your bike parks with engine off. I think it is worth mentioning.